Solar & Lunar Eclipses Visible from Colombo
Every eclipse in the 2024–2040 catalog that reaches Colombo (6.9271°, 79.8612°), with contact times on the Asia/Colombo clock.
Checking the catalog against today's date…
Open the calculator at Colombo's coordinates18 of the 32 in the catalog are above the horizon here, 7 of them total. Times are Asia/Colombo, converted per eclipse.
Colombo's best-placed eclipse in the window is the total lunar eclipse of October 19, 2032, greatest at 12:32 AM GMT+5:30. The moon is fully inside Earth's shadow for 1h 12m, and the whole eclipse happens with the moon up — 80° above the horizon at greatest eclipse.
| Date | From Colombo | Local times | Moon |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday, September 7, 2025 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 11:41 PM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 11:00 PM – 12:22 AM | 76° up at greatest 1h 22m total |
| Tuesday, March 3, 2026 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Colombo at about 6:19 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 5:03 PM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 4:31 PM – 5:35 PM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 4m total |
| Sunday, February 21, 2027 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:29 AM, during the penumbral shading. The rest of it happens below Colombo's horizon. | 4:43 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse | 26° up at greatest |
| Thursday, July 6, 2028 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 11:50 PM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Umbral 10:42 PM – 12:58 AM | 60° up at greatest |
| Sunday, December 31, 2028 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 10:22 PM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 9:45 PM – 10:59 PM | 59° up at greatest 1h 14m total |
| Friday, December 21, 2029 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:20 AM, during the penumbral shading. The rest of it happens below Colombo's horizon. | 4:11 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 3:42 AM – 4:40 AM | 30° up at greatest 58m total |
| Sunday, June 16, 2030 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:03 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Umbral 10:53 PM – 1:13 AM | 60° up at greatest |
| Tuesday, December 10, 2030 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:14 AM, during the penumbral shading. The rest of it happens below Colombo's horizon. | 3:57 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 3:40 AM – 4:14 AM | 32° up at greatest 34m total |
| Sunday, April 25, 2032 Total lunar eclipse | Total The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Colombo at about 6:15 PM, already in the penumbral shading. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 8:43 PM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 8:08 PM – 9:18 PM | 35° up at greatest 1h 10m total |
| Tuesday, October 19, 2032 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:32 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 11:56 PM – 1:08 AM | 80° up at greatest 1h 12m total |
| Friday, April 15, 2033 Total lunar eclipse | Total The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:42 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 12:20 AM – 1:04 AM | 72° up at greatest 44m total |
| Saturday, October 8, 2033 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse begins below the horizon — the moon rises over Colombo at about 5:55 PM, already in the partial phase. Everything before that happens while the moon is down. | 4:24 PM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 3:46 PM – 5:02 PM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 16m total |
| Tuesday, April 4, 2034 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 1:17 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Umbral 12:06 AM – 2:28 AM | 70° up at greatest |
| Wednesday, March 12, 2036 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:21 AM, during the penumbral shading. The rest of it happens below Colombo's horizon. | 8:17 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 7:31 AM – 9:03 AM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 32m total |
| Monday, January 10, 2039 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 6:29 AM, during totality. The rest of it happens below Colombo's horizon. | 6:57 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 6:20 AM – 7:34 AM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 14m total |
| Friday, July 8, 2039 Partial lunar eclipse | Partial The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:34 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Umbral 11:28 PM – 1:40 AM | 60° up at greatest |
| Saturday, May 26, 2040 Total lunar eclipse | Partial The eclipse is still under way at moonset — the moon sets at about 5:56 AM, during the partial phase. The rest of it happens below Colombo's horizon. | 7:15 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse Totality 6:34 AM – 7:56 AM | below the horizon at greatest 1h 22m total |
| Monday, November 19, 2040 Penumbral lunar eclipse | Penumbral The whole eclipse is above Colombo's horizon, from first contact to last. | 12:32 AM GMT+5:30 greatest eclipse | 75° up at greatest |
Reading the table. Greatest eclipse is one instant worldwide, printed on Colombo's clock — the zone abbreviation is resolved for that date, so it changes across the window wherever the clocks do. From Colombo is what the horizon leaves: a total eclipse the moon sets during is a partial one here, and the note beside it says which phase was under way. Durations are the eclipse's own, worldwide.
No. Of the 34 solar eclipses catalogued between 2024 and 2040, none puts Colombo inside the moon's shadow at the moment of greatest eclipse — the one instant this site's model measures. The closest it comes otherwise is Tuesday, September 12, 2034: the shadow's footprint does cover Colombo at greatest eclipse, but the sun is below the horizon here at that moment — so anything Colombo gets from it is whatever is left as the sun crosses the horizon, which is past where this model stops. A shallow partial from a shadow that sweeps past before or after that instant is not counted here, so read this as "no solar eclipse worth planning around", not as a promise that the sun is never touched.
How close the shadows come
| Date | Eclipse | Nearest approach |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday, September 12, 2034 | Annular solar | Overhead, but at night the footprint covered Colombo with the sun below the horizon |
| Friday, December 16, 2039 | Annular solar | Overhead, but at night the footprint covered Colombo with the sun below the horizon |
| Wednesday, January 26, 2028 | Annular solar | Overhead, but at night the footprint covered Colombo with the sun below the horizon |
A solar eclipse is only safe to look at through ISO 12312-2 filters, except during the totality of a total eclipse. For the path of totality over Colombo, use NASA's eclipse site — path width is the one thing this page does not model.
Eclipse dates and contact times come from the NASA/Espenak catalog, and everything local to Colombo — whether the moon or sun is above the horizon, how high it stands, what the horizon cuts off — is computed for 6.9271°, 79.8612° and converted to Asia/Colombo. Nothing on this page is stamped with a build date: an eclipse is a catalogued instant, so where the shadow fell and how high the moon stood over Colombo are as fixed for 2024 as for 2040. Only the "next eclipse" panel at the top reads the clock, and it does so in your browser.
What the horizon decides. A lunar eclipse is visible from wherever the moon is up, which is half the planet — but an eclipse runs for hours and can straddle moonrise or moonset, and then only part of it is Colombo's. That is why each row carries the moon's altitude at greatest eclipse and, where it matters, which phase was under way as the moon crossed the horizon. An eclipse 70° up is overhead and unmistakable; the same eclipse a few degrees up is behind whatever Colombo has on its skyline.
Where this page stops. A solar eclipse row says that the moon's shadow reaches Colombo at the instant of greatest eclipse, and how high the sun stands here when it does. It does not say how much of the sun is covered: the path of totality is a couple of hundred kilometres wide against a footprint thousands of kilometres across, and this site models the footprint, not the path. Nor does it count a shallow partial from a shadow that sweeps past Colombo before or after that instant — so the 0 solar dates listed here are a floor, not a total.
Safe viewing. A lunar eclipse is safe to watch with the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope — it is only the full moon, dimmed. A solar eclipse is not: outside the brief totality of a total eclipse, looking at the sun needs ISO 12312-2 filters, and sunglasses are not filters. For the exact path of a solar eclipse over Colombo, use NASA's eclipse site, whose maps carry the path width this page's model does not model.
When is the next lunar eclipse visible from Colombo?
The panel at the top of this page names it, counting from today in your browser. The table below is the full record instead: all 18 lunar eclipses between 2024 and 2040 that are above Colombo's horizon, with contact times already converted to Asia/Colombo. 7 of them are total from here.
Will a solar eclipse be visible from Colombo?
No. Of the 34 solar eclipses catalogued between 2024 and 2040, none puts Colombo inside the moon's shadow at the moment of greatest eclipse — the one instant this site's model measures. The closest it comes otherwise is Tuesday, September 12, 2034: the shadow's footprint does cover Colombo at greatest eclipse, but the sun is below the horizon here at that moment — so anything Colombo gets from it is whatever is left as the sun crosses the horizon, which is past where this model stops. A shallow partial from a shadow that sweeps past before or after that instant is not counted here, so read this as "no solar eclipse worth planning around", not as a promise that the sun is never touched.
What time does the eclipse start in Colombo?
Every time on this page is Colombo local time, converted per eclipse rather than once for the page — the window spans 16 years, so the same zone reads differently in January and July and the abbreviation beside each row says which applies. A lunar eclipse begins with the faint penumbral shading (P1), bites into the disc at first umbral contact (U1) and, if it is total, goes fully dark at U2.
Why does Colombo see more lunar eclipses than solar ones?
Earth's shadow at the moon's distance is far larger than the moon's shadow on Earth, and a lunar eclipse is visible from the entire night side of the planet at once — so Colombo catches 18 of the 32 lunar eclipses in the window, and none of the 34 solar ones. A solar eclipse throws a shadow a few thousand kilometres across at most, and its darkest part a few hundred; miss that footprint by an hour of Earth's rotation and there is nothing to see from Colombo at all.